Early Mayoral and City Council Elections Slated for Kyiv

photos: Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky (left), Kyiv City Council Building (right)

Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution on Tuesday requiring early mayoral and city council elections in Kyiv. Current Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky is accused of conducting land privatization deals in Kyiv that has given away almost $3 billion worth of land plots over the last six months.

The resolution was approved by a 246-5 vote, supported by the governing coalition of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) and Our Ukraine People's Self Defense Bloc (OU-PSD), and a group from the Lytvyn Bloc. The Party of Regions did not participate in the vote.

Chernovetsky, who became mayor in 2006, responded to the resolution by stating, "I am not afraid of an early election, because I am confident of my victory. I believe Kiev citizens will decide who is really working for them."

Deputy Mayor Irena Kilchitskaya did not show the same diplomacy, stating,  “Today’s vote was unconstitutional because they had no material evidence or criminal cases in its support. This vote shows that Kiev is a political arena, and the struggle for Kiev is the beginning of the struggle for presidency. Kiev authorities are fully prepared for the early mayoral election.”

The election is expected to take place in June, 70 days after the resolution takes effect. This is the first time that the Ukrainian Parliament has ever voted to remove a local government and declare an early election in a particular regioin. Now that a precedent has been set, this practice can be used elsewhere, such as the Party of Regions dominated Kharkiv Region, which may also face an early election later this year.

Expected contestants for the mayoral position include former boxer Vitaliy Klitschko, Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko, former Kyiv mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko, and a BYuT  representative. Since all four have ties to the democratic coalition, OU-PSD faction member Kyrylo Kuliko  hopes the alliance will propose a single candidate for the election.

I'm not completely sure, but this may be the first time the democratic coalition received support from another political group. Volodymyr Lytvyn, leader of his block, seems to have his Parliament members functioining as independents, never voting on party or coalition lines, but supporting whatever initiatives seem appropriate at the time. That's a pretty good approach, if you ask me.

Mayor Chernovetsky photo courtesy of Kiev City Government Administration
Kyiv City Council Bulding photo Gnu Free Documentation License 1.2